Causes of Yemeni air crash yet to be determined

SANAA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- After rescuers found a child survivor who was pulled alive from the sea, the cause of the crash of an Yemeni jetliner with more than 150 people on board off Comoran coasts remains elusive.

The jetliner, an Airbus A310, crashed early Tuesday into the Indian Ocean as it approached the airport on the Comoros islands in heavy winds and bad weather. The plane was carrying 153 people -- 142 passengers and a crew of 11.

France's Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said on Europe 1 radio Tuesday that the plane was "not at fault" in the crash. "It has nothing to do with the plane."

However, the minister also pointed out that the jet had been found to have "faults" in a 2007 inspection.

Bussereau told France's i-Tele television that the Airbus A310 was inspected by France's civil aviation agency DGAC in 2007, and "they noticed a certain number of faults."

Those failings, the minister said, had been pointed out to the company by the French authorities and by coincidence, this plane had never reappeared in European airports since then.

"The company was not on the black list but was subject to stricter checks on our part, and was due to be interviewed shortly by the European Union's safety committee," said Bussereau.

But Yemeni Transport Minister Khaled al-Wazir rebutted the reports that the crash of the Airbus A310-300 was due to technical problems.

The plane was "technically sound," and underwent a thorough inspection in May under Airbus supervision, said al-Wazir.

"It was a comprehensive inspection carried out in Yemen...with experts from Airbus," the minister said. "It was in line with international standards."

Al-Wazir said the French authorities did put forward some suggestions for the plane two years ago, but the advices concerned mostly the level of passenger comfort including some improvements of plane seats, television screen and earphones.